Thursday, December 06, 2012

Pay-TV providers in Europe and Asia testing new roles as OTT providers

Multiscreen services will reach over 100 million Western European pay-TV subscribers by 2016

Low ARPUs, growing competitive threats, and rival multiscreen services are driving many pay-TV providers in Europe and Asia to explore new business strategies in video services, according to international research firm Parks Associates. TV Everywhere: Growth, Solutions, and Strategies - Europe and Asia/Pacific,a new report from Parks Associates, indicates multiscreen services now reach 66% of pay-TV subscribers in Western Europe, 21% in Eastern Europe, and 9% in Asia, compared to 90% in North America.

Many pay-TV providers are now leveraging their multiscreen services to offer over-the-top (OTT) services to non-pay-TV subscribers. The U.K. satellite provider Sky is offering Sky Go, which features live TV and on-demand content, to non-Sky TV customers via PCs, smartphones, and tablets, with monthly subscriptions at £15-£40. Italian pay-TV providers Telecom Italia, Mediaset, and FastWEB, Romanian incumbent Romtelecom, UAE-based Etisalat, and South Korean cable operator CJ Hellovision have all launched video services that are available to anyone with a broadband connection. Operators with niche content, such as Telecom Serbia, have also launched new, local-language services to reach segments of consumers outside their home market.

"Now that Netflix has entered Europe and large players have acquired OTT services such as Lovefilm and Acetrax, the video services market will be increasingly competitive, forcing pay-TV providers to test new services and business models," said Brett Sappington, Director, Research, Parks Associates. "Operators in Europe and Asia have dramatically increased their multiscreen offerings, and some are expanding into pure-play OTT services, with offerings available outside their network footprint."

These efforts will increase as new OTT offerings throughout Europe, including Netflix and HBO, threaten operators’ premium TV revenues. Parks Associates' report examines the development of TV Everywhere/multiscreen services in Western Europe, Eastern Europe, and the Asia/Pacific region.

The research firm will discuss multiscreen services and other connected-home topics at CONNECTIONS™ Summit at CES, January 8 in Las Vegas.

About Parks Associates: Parks Associates is an internationally recognized market research and consulting company specializing in emerging consumer technology products and services. Founded in 1986, Parks Associates creates research capital for companies ranging from Fortune 500 to small start-ups through market reports, primary studies, consumer research, custom research, workshops, executive conferences, and annual service subscriptions.

The company's expertise includes the Internet of Things (IoT), digital media and platforms, entertainment and gaming, home networks, Internet and television services, digital health, mobile applications and services, support services, consumer apps, advanced advertising, consumer electronics, energy management, and home control systems and security.